Read this horror story. Read it, and think about it. The parts in bold are emphasized by me, things that should absolutely be illegal and criminal. Health insurance is the biggest scam being perpetrated by corporations on the American people, right up there with wage theft.

Write your representatives in Congress. Better, call them. Demand #MedicareForAll. It’s the only morally-justifiable system. It would save citizens and businesses and doctors and hospitals immense amounts of money, result in better healthcare and greater productivity for all of us, and would free employees from staying in a crappy, abusive job out of fear of losing their insurance. People would no longer go bankrupt because of a single medical emergency, which happens to nearly 650,000 people each year, accounting for more than 60 percent of all personal bankruptcies. Our current system is a crime, and insurance companies are the criminals.

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Michelle DuBarry
@DuBarryPie

A Thread

In 2010, I had good union health insurance. Obamacare was the law of the land. In November that yr my 1yo son was struck by a careless driver in a crosswalk. After two surgeries and a night in intensive care, he died.

Before we knew the outcome, I sat at his bedside, his tiny stitched- together body hooked to a million incessantly beeping machines, straining to recall what our deductibles were. I worried I wouldn’t be able to keep working during what could be a long hospital stay.

I googled FMLA and learned I wouldn’t qualify b/c I hadn’t been at my job for a year. If I lost my job we would both be without insurance. Without my income, there was no way we could afford $1K/month COBRA.

𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵, 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗽 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗨 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹.

My husband who was also injured in the crash, was refused treatment by his primary care doc b/c she didn’t accept payment from auto insurance and his health insurer wouldn’t pay til we exhausted our auto insurance.

Have you ever had to call around to find a doctor that can handle your specific insurance situation? Have you done it in the days after your toddler has died, when you haven’t even figured out a way to talk about it, when your husband is injured and urgently needs a Rx refill?

We ended up with around $5K in out-of-pocket expenses and our health insurer paid $175K. Eventually, we’d receive a settlement from the at-fault driver. For a minute, we thought we might be OK financially.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝘀. 𝗰𝗼. 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗯𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 $𝟭𝟳𝟱𝗞 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗜𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁, 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 – 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 $𝟬.

(Side Note: It took me 8 yrs but in 2019 I initiated and passed a bill making this practice illegal in OR. It remains legal in many states.)

Through all this, my husband and I both were suffering from PTSD. We had jobs, a mortgage. All of it hung in the balance. In a humane system, we could grieve without having to navigate an insurance juggernaut, without worrying about being thrust into debt and poverty.

Despite Obamacare and “good” union insurance, we were nearly bankrupted by a 27-hour hospital stay.

Every one of us lives in a body that is going to fail. Sometimes it happens suddenly, catastrophically. Do you want to fight with insurers when this happens? Do you want to sort through a mountain of bills when you lose someone you love, when your grief is raw?

There is no compromise on healthcare that doesn’t leave millions of people unacceptably vulnerable to corporations trying to profit from sick and injured people.

End of Thread

America’s economy is broken, designed to keep people in perpetual poverty to the benefit of the ultra-wealthy. Things must absolutely change. The only way that’s going to happen is if progressives are voted into office in numbers too great to swindle.

For the sake of your posterity’s future, vote Blue in every election at every level, from now until the heat death of the universe. Vote for progressive candidates who will work to build a world for everyone, with no one left out.

The Old Wolf has spoken.